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Newcastle native and NBA player Duncan Robinson is in the Granite State this weekend to put on a charity basketball event in honor of his brother, Eli. Eli Robinson died in April 2025 after losing his battle with schizophrenia, addiction, and mental illness.
"We're just really honored to put on this event in honor of our brother, Eli Robinson. You know, he obviously would have loved to have been here, but I know this is making him proud for sure," Duncan Robinson said. The Robinson family has been an active advocate for mental health awareness and suicide prevention. "It's OK to not be OK," Robinson said. "It's OK to be going through something. I think the most important thing you can do is lean into a community. And that's what we're really trying to foster here today."
Kai Jones: "I requested (Hornets) to waive me because they were telling me that they didn't think I was ready to come into training camp and from a mental health perspective. So, there were some things that I was doing, like my sleep pattern, and at this time I was going through a lot. So, my great-grandmother had passed away, and that wasn't the only thing. It was also the way that the things that happened with my family after the fact. I was just in a mental place of, damn, I didn't feel as at peace as I am now. I didn't feel as close to my family as I am now. I just felt like all these existential questions of life and death, and am I ever going to pass away?"
Blake was on the "Friends Keep Secrets" podcast Tuesday with Lil Dicky, Kristin Batalucco, and Benny Blanco when recalled a nightmare interaction with a sports psychologist during his time with the Los Angeles Clippers. He says the shrink came over to his place after practice one day and they chatted ... and then the shrink turned around and called up Blake's coach to spill about their convo. Blake says he took a shower after their chat and when he was done, he checked his phone to see he had a missed call and voicemail from the psychologist. He listened to the message ... and the shrink had accidentally called and left a voicemail meant for Blake's coach, recapping their supposedly private chat. Safe to say, Blake was done with sports psychologists right then and there ... but he clearly didn't need one ... because the Hall of Famer's career exploded to new heights after the sit down.
Dwyane Wade shared that retiring from basketball — a sport he had played his entire life — took an emotional toll. “Once you retire, that's when, you know … you really go through a moment, a time of depression,” he said. “And it's how you decide to handle that depression which is going to determine your next step because, you know — since I was 5 years old — that's what I did, played basketball. And then I was really good at it. So now you're coming out of this world and … now I got to get another skill,” he continued.
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Wade went on to say that “the first thing” he did when he retired was start therapy, despite the fact that he previously had some resistance to the idea. “I was the Black man that was like, ‘Therapy ain't for me,' ” he explained. However, Wade said he intuitively knew he needed an emotional outlet post-retirement. “Basketball not only was a place where I had so much success … it was also my outlet, you know what I mean? Like, I could scream. I can yell. I can curse. I could, you know — not fight — but you know, get a little aggressive out there, and I just can't do all those things [in everyday life]. I can't come home and do all those [things]," he said.
JR Smith: "I played 16 years, I probably played 70% of my career depressed. That's crazy to think about. That's nuts. And to still be able to have a, I would say a good career, it wasn't great, it was a good career, but I literally think about this shit all the time, bro. My potential was so high in that aspect of it."
JR Smith: "I'm addicted to smoking because of a lot of the depression and pain that I feel and I don't know how to get out and express it. I've been to therapy, I don't trust therapists because a lot of them tell you what you want to hear. And I've learned to where I don't, me personally, I've been around enough people to kiss my ass, I don't really need that."
JR Smith: If I was capable of expressing myself and understand at an earlier age, I feel like a lot of my own thoughts wouldn't be to my detriment. And I didn't I didn't realize this until as I got older and and still even still, it's having those hard conversations, having the courage and boldness to have those tough conversations with people, you really find out that it's not that bad. It's not as bad as you think. And I didn't learn that for a long time and I feel like for me, if I was earlier on, I wish I'd have I wish I'd have had that."
Robinson has never been shy in letting his thoughts be known on social media. He has opened up about his mental health and at times complained about his role in the Knicks offense.
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The journey from Ron Artest to Metta World Peace is a great redemption story, and on Friday morning inside City Hall, the Los Angeles City Council officially celebrated “Metta World Peace Day,” honoring the former Lakers champion for his mental health advocacy. The recognition came after Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a resolution declaring May 15 as “Metta World Peace Day” throughout Los Angeles during Mental Health Awareness Month.
How do you think about that? Does it scare you? How do you prepare for something like that? Kevin Love: It definitely scares me. I’ve had to come to grips with athletic mortality more so now, in the last probably two years, than I have in the last twenty. Everything, I feel like, brought me here for a reason and brought us here for a reason, for the greater good, for people to understand that they are enough and that they’re part of a larger community and something bigger than themselves. But for me, having the Kevin Love Fund, having that panic attack back in 2017, and then starting the Kevin Love Fund in 2018, that has given me purpose and a legacy piece outside of basketball, to know I’ll go to that when I’m done. And then also finding balance within several different interests, mediums, or hobbies that I have outside of basketball, so that when I lose my identity as a basketball player, in terms of putting a jersey on — I might work in a front office someday, or I might work with an organization in some capacity — but I won’t entirely lose that sense of identity just because I’m not playing anymore.
Kevin Love: When I had the panic attack, my teammates didn’t know what the hell was going on. Then I had another one against Oklahoma City, and nobody knew what was going on, so my teammates turned against me. I didn’t want to share anything because I thought my livelihood would be taken away from me. I thought that it would compromise my entire career, and people wouldn’t trust me. The organization wouldn’t trust me. I’d be looked at as someone who was weak in this professional sports setting. So, it was like I talk about that negative feedback loop.
Kevin Love: I always talk about trying to achieve my way out of depression, to achieve my way out of feeling these dark spells that I’d have for weeks and even months, primarily throughout my teens and my twenties. I felt like achieving something else, getting another accolade, or reaching a different height would cure me, or I wouldn’t be depressed anymore. My anxiety would go away, and then all of that would go away. Then my brain would go back to the same level that it was at prior. And it just moved away so fast. I thought, “Okay, push it to the side. What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?” And when that happens, that anxiety heightens, or your depression reestablishes itself from dormancy. Then you’re left with the same brain that you’ve always had, and you haven’t done any of the work.